Doctor Sebastian La Rosa said people need less than 100 euros a month to optimize longevity during an appearance on Uri Sabat's podcast.
The medical doctor and professor argued that expensive anti-ageing interventions and extreme biohacking routines promoted on social media are unnecessary distractions from simple, scientifically proven habits. He explained that extending healthy life is fundamentally about reducing mortality risk rather than chasing experimental therapies that cost tens of thousands of euros.
Speaking on Sabat's podcast, La Formula del Exito, La Rosa pointed out that a working-class person today enjoys a higher quality of life than a medieval monarch. He described that historical contrast as a wake-up call, emphasizing that protecting long-term health is much easier than wellness influencers claim.
La Rosa dismissed widespread public claims about living to 120 or 150 years as mere advertising slogans. In medical longevity, he noted, scientists can only speak responsibly about reducing the risk of premature death, which is the only outcome supported by clinical evidence.
Lowering mortality risk does not guarantee reaching any specific age, according to the physician. He added that postponing death does not require accessing experimental gene therapies with alleged anti-ageing effects, which can cost more than 20,000 euros per treatment.
The real cost of extending life
Sabat asked La Rosa whether ordinary people need to invest the immense sums spent by American tech entrepreneur Bryan Johnson, who pours millions of euros each year into rigorous longevity protocols. La Rosa responded that optimizing longevity does not require 100 euros a month, adding that people need even less money than that.
Johnson made a fortune after selling his payment processing business and later created Project Blueprint, an ultra-strict daily regime involving dozens of supplements, medical scans, and specialist interventions. While such extreme routines attract attention, La Rosa said the average citizen has no need for them.
However, the doctor acknowledged that wealthy individuals who fund private anti-ageing trials provide some public benefit. He said society needs people who test new medical treatments without bureaucratic delays, which can accelerate scientific discovery and eventually yield useful therapies for the wider population.
La Rosa also observed that financial resources still influence overall health outcomes through unequal access to care. He pointed to the postcode theory frequently cited in longevity research, which stems from United States studies showing that household income and location serve as powerful indicators of average life expectancy.
Personal metrics over expensive gadgets
To overcome health inequalities without high expenses, La Rosa recommended personalizing basic daily routines rather than following generic advice. He said individuals should focus on understanding their personal physical requirements by tracking manageable everyday parameters.
His primary tracking targets include counting daily steps, scheduling strength training sessions, monitoring exercise intensity, and allowing sufficient recovery time. He also highlighted the critical importance of measuring both the duration and restorative quality of sleep.
Dietary control forms another cornerstone of his low-cost strategy. La Rosa advised individuals to verify that they consume the right number of calories, hit their required daily protein targets, and ingest adequate dietary fibre.
Eating sufficient fibre nourishes the gut microbiota and helps prevent dysbiosis, a microbial imbalance inside the digestive tract that researchers have linked to inflammatory damage and biological ageing. La Rosa insisted that tracking these metrics is straightforward, effective, and requires a minimal household budget.
Dietary rules for the supermarket basket
La Rosa addressed the cost of grocery shopping, examining whether buying organic produce is truly decisive for healthy ageing. He acknowledged that grass-fed steak offers a superior nutritional profile compared to feedlot beef, providing higher concentrations of micronutrients such as vitamin A, cobalt, selenium, and vitamin K.
Yet the specialist warned against letting organic certifications become the primary concern of a healthy diet. While differences in food quality do exist, he said people should not exhaust their minds worrying about them because organic sourcing is not the main priority.
Instead, the most scientifically validated dietary intervention for longevity is avoiding overeating by maintaining a modest caloric deficit of around 5 per cent. However, La Rosa stressed that individuals must first build sufficient muscle mass before cutting calories, as preserving skeletal muscle plays a crucial role in slowing the pace of ageing.
After establishing adequate muscle, the next essential step is securing enough daily protein. La Rosa noted that most people mistakenly believe they eat more protein than they actually do, with many failing to reach their minimum requirement. A similar deficit frequently occurs with dietary fibre.
He urged consumers to meet those basic nutritional baselines before spending extra money on premium organic goods or specialized health foods. Addressing those core dietary targets does not increase grocery spending at all, he explained, while still ensuring that people eat nutritious whole foods.
Fitness and practical lifestyle habits
Longevity is not an exclusive privilege reserved for the rich, according to La Rosa. He warned that social media biohackers who display costly equipment and experimental treatments create unrealistic expectations, discouraging ordinary people who feel priced out of a healthy lifestyle.
He explained that influencers post extreme setups because luxury gadgets generate attention and social media views, not because they represent the most effective health strategies. He stressed that nobody needs an infrared sauna at home to stay healthy.
Instead, La Rosa said people need to go running to raise their VO2 max, regulate their food to hit calorie and protein targets, and optimize the quality of their sleep. VO2 max measures the maximum volume of oxygen an individual can utilize during intense physical activity, serving as a standard medical indicator of cardiorespiratory fitness.
Other wellness practitioners have echoed the importance of accessible exercise tailored to physical ability. Veteran Spanish television presenter Mercedes Mila, who is 75 years old, shared that she previously lifted weights but found the willpower required unsustainable, deciding at 70 to switch to an electric bicycle.
Similarly, fitness trainer Sergio Lopez noted that adults in their fifties performing side planks can rest their knees on the floor. Lopez explained that the supported variation still strengthens the lateral abdominal muscles, back, hips, and shoulder stabilizers while protecting joints.
La Rosa concluded his podcast appearance by advising listeners to focus on proven fundamentals before seeking out complex or expensive anti-ageing interventions. Mastering sleep, basic nutrition, and regular aerobic exercise remains the most reliable path to a longer life.
